Weird News: Chinese prisoners forced to produce virtual gold, real profits for their guards

The virtual goods economy of massively multiplayer online games may be thriving, but it's also stimulating an undesirable side-effect: exploitation. A former detainee at a prison in Heilongjiang province, China, has told the Guardian about how he was habitually forced into playing MMOs like World of Warcraft for the collection of loot, which the prison guards would then resell online for as much as ¥6,000 ($924) per day. Such totals would be the product of up to 300 inmates working 12-hour daily shifts, though predictably they saw none of the profits themselves. The unnamed source was at a "re-education through labor" camp where the usual toil would involve actual, rather than virtual, mining. The profitability of the online market has seemingly inspired prison bosses to move with the times, however, with business being so brisk that the computers "were never turned off." A Chinese government edict from 2009 is supposed to have introduced a requirement that online currencies only be traded by licensed entities, but it's believed that the practice of using prisoners in this fashion continues unabated.
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Sony Ericsson News Beat: Xperias with unlocked bootloaders won't get updates

When Sony Ericsson announced they will release a tool to unlock the bootloader on some of their devices, fans celebrated. One problem has come up though – once you unlock, you can’t get official software updates.

A Sony Ericsson developer has posted on the XDA-Developers forums answering some questions. He explains that Over-The-Air updates are not supported since they rely on updating a phone only from a specific firmware version – and Sony Ericsson can’t verify that your phone is using that version once you unlock the bootloader (updating from a different version will corrupt the files).

Even using the regular software update tool that can update a phone from any version is not currently supported for unlocked. They may enable that in the future, but now there are still unanswered questions as to how allowing updates for unlocked phones will affect the update procedure itself and what that would mean for Sony Ericsson repair and support centers.

Sony Ericsson considers creating recovery ROM that would allow you to put an official ROM with a locked bootloader so that you can update the phone via their software update tool. Note that even if Sony Ericsson releases such a recovery ROM your warranty may be voided even after flashing it.

Of course, once you unlock the bootloader you can always use a custom ROM to update to the latest version. But this is still an important thing to consider – once you unlock the bootloader on your Sony Ericsson Xperia device, you shouldn’t rely on official software updates from Sony Ericsson. You might have to pay for repairs if something goes wrong too. 

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Hasselblad's 200 megapixel H4D-200MS camera now shipping, breaks your bank

Hasselblad's H4D-200MS is yet another upgrade to its H4D camera line that we want badly, but wouldn't have a need -- or a budget -- for. This latest piece of kit is nearly identical to the 50 megapixel H4D-50MS externally, but internally adds an astonishing 150 more megapixels to the mix -- yes, that's an astounding 200 megapixels! Don't feel forgotten just yet if you have the older model, though, as Hasselblad can upgrade your sensor for €7,000 (roughly $10,000) -- a great deal considering the full kit costs €32,000 (about $45,000). With that said, we should note that details are null on the medium-format sensor's native resolution -- similar to the multi-shot feature on the 50MS, the new 200MS combines six shots to create ridiculously detailed 200 megapixel still images, and it handles less intensive photos with a four-shot 50 megapixel still mode. Should you dare to venture outside the studio, there's a 50 megapixel single-shot live mode for quick shots as well. Excuse us while we wrap our heads around the sheer number of pixels; you'll find more info after the break in the meantime.

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Symbian News Update: Nokia ORO visits the FCC, on its way to a US release (www.drmobiles.co.nz)

It's been a busy week for Nokia's latest creation - the ORO. First, the fancy dressed smartphone got officially announced, then it appeared in an interview as Nokia CEO's phone of choice. It also paid a visit to FCC to get tested and approved for usage in the United States.

This occurrence seems more than logical, since the ORO, like its mortal cousin, the Nokia C7, sports a penta-band 3G support which includes both AT&T and T-Mobile frequencies.
We don't expect the device to be offered by either of the above mentioned U.S. networks (after all, T-Mobile already sells the Nokia C7 under the Astound name), so availability directly from Nokia USA is most likely.



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